I have painted my truck 4 times in the front, and the bed 3. Its my work truck so I tell people its always a work in progress. Didnt fit all the way in either, so I had issues. Anyway, I am getting my 280zx ready for paint and am asking for tips on "booth" preparation, general tips on air quality control, and general advice. The 280 fits inside so I dont have to hang a drop cloth this time . I can read tips on paint till Im blue, but that comes down to patience, practice, and preparation. My truck looks pretty good now after I wetsanded the orange peel out of my clearcoat. But I dont want to sand the 280 for a week either. Im a residential painter, and even I got sick of sanding.So I got the paint issues controlled (sort of) but want to know tips for when I walk away from shooting. It still has to sit in the garage while I leave. Dust, overspray, etc. remain. Thanks for tips
P.S. A shout out to the two guys that helped me ADCO. I dont know what shop they worked for, but thanks for the paint tips. Who knew that adjusting reducer levels would work?

If i understand your question?????????The garage or garage door being open is not where your dirt is coming from, if that is the question?

I can get a black job as clean in my garage as any paint booth but dirt comes from the Masking paper on the glass, the hose, off of you and out of the seams of the car.
Most new painters get so excited to shoot paint they skimp on the cleaning.

Use a coated paper to mask (white or blue), not the green crap.
Clean your hose if its been laying on the floor.
Blow out all the gaps and creases two or three times.
Wear a cheap $2.00 paint suit.
Wash the car with wax and grease remover twice.
Tack the car 2-3 times.
Fan should blow out, not on car.
After you base, put a fresh piece of paper over the old paper on the glass areas before clearing.
Another idea is wash the car and jambs down the day before taping up for paint.

Barry is right. I have a nice shop, but no paint booth. I will spend the whole day before prep the shop and the car for paint. I blow everything off in the shop. I wash the floor, the car, air hose. I cover everything in the shop with old sheets. I even use trash bags to cover the wheels. The reusable wheel covers just collect dirt and trash.

Once the shop is clean, I concentrate on the car. Blow it over several times. Open the doors, hood and trunk and blow. I tape the inside of the doors to close the gaps. As well as the trunk and hood. I found a good product for degreasing from 3M. I've found some degreasers seem to be oily and if you don't wipe it off completely, could cause problems. I know that's just in my mind, but it's my mind that has to be comfortable when I paint.

I let my tack rags dry out for a day before using them too. I tack the car several times. Cover the car with clean sheets.

The next day at day break (just as it's starting to get light) I get out to the shop and wipe the car down again several times.

I don't wet the floor. I leave it dry. I don't want any water drops falling off the hose, or the hose splashing water on the car.

I will spend the whole day painting. After the base coat I will tack the car again before I start appling clear.

So prep time is the most important time before painting. The next most important time is the wait time between coats. It's sometimes really hard to wait that 15, 20, or 30 minutes between coats. We ALL tend to want to get in there and get that next coat on.

Most of that AND,
filter your inlet air into the spray area.
It's DRY as a bone around here in the SOUTH and dust is flying everywhere so filtering you inlet with good furnace filters will help on the trash as well.
But MOST TRASH COMES OFF YOU. So coveralls like TYVEC or a cheap shoot suit will help as well. Nitrile gloves are a good idea but in reality,just create more problems from sweating and it pouring out of them during paint.Water dripping out of the respirator exaust is another problem later on so I tape a piece of clean rag over it's outlet.Cleaning the booth the day BEFORE helps as it takes a WHILE to suck out all the dust you stir up with blowing air around. When Possiable, I'll shoot clear all around the booth BEFORE pulling in the project.This helps "collect" the flying debris and sticks the crap to the floor.

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